Death is Graceful
by phobiafied
Summary: Nothing truly evil is born into this world without something good to balance it. For fifty years, good has battled evil without the benefit of its greatest weapon. This fanfic is born out of a desire to understand justice and death. Oh, and my love for Inuyasha. Original Char, KagxInu SanxMir
1. Peace

****Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, this is but a humble fanfic. :)

**Chapter 1 - Peace**

Cold had consumed her senses. There was not much else to feel, but the cold. Her pain had long ago fled, nothing more than a bitter memory now lost in a world filled with snow. Images of her past sometimes fought their way to the surface... the fleeting image of a beautiful woman with dark hair and pale skin, the forgotten smell of lavender. Other, darker memories rose as well. She pushed them away.

Her kimono was more than ragged. It hung in tattered shreds, failing to conceal the wide purple scars that banded her flesh. She didn't notice. Each snowflake was its own little masterpiece, intricately carved, beautiful beyond compare. There was nothing left to understand... nothing she wanted to understand anyway. All she wanted was the snow, because the snow was sweet oblivion.

Her long copper hair fanned out like bright flames on the snow around her, but it would get buried eventually. Everything would get buried eventually. And then she could sleep. She was so tired.

Her breathing was shallow and slow now. Each exhale took her to a strange sort of limbo, where she felt just about as close to slipping away as she did to taking that next breath. It felt gentle to die there, caressed by snowflakes until the end. She began to let go of her consciousness, or maybe it began to let go of her. She was grateful. Her memories would die with her.

A bright light shattered her haze. Too bright. It drew her attention away from the snow. Her weary eyes closed, attempting to block it out. She had thought she heard a voice, but that must have been untrue. If she refused to acknowledge it, it would become untrue. But this voice would not go away. It slipped into her mind with ease, and her consciousness rose to fight the foreign invader.

"You will not die."

Anger rose in her like bile, but she was incapable of speech.

"You cannot die."

Once again she attempted to talk, but the only thing that resulted was a frightful cough that shook her entire body.

"Rise."

There was nothing but the bright light. She shivered violently as a hand was placed on her brow. It wasn't warm, nor was it cold, but her skin reacted fiercely. Yet just as suddenly as she had felt it, the sensation was gone and she was back to blissful numbness.

"You will rise."

The voice was quite firm this time. And this time there was action. She was quite sure it was not of her own doing, but she rose. The snow shook off of her as she coughed again, this time suspended in midair, toes barely scraping the snow.

"You have not yet fulfilled your purpose."

This time anger fully acknowledged itself, and it became as menacing and beautiful as the cold. A thought registered in her brain. _And who are you to say such a thing…_Even as a thought it was feeble, and though it was not voiced, could not be voiced, there was a reply.

"I am your father, and I am restoring your health." The voice did not wait for a reaction. "You are no ordinary human. Remember who you are."

Her entire body began to warm, but the warmth was unwelcome, and more shivers followed.

"There can come no ordinary death for you. Do not wish for such a thing. You must complete your purpose. Then, and only then, may you leave this world."

The voice and light vanished, and she fell gently to her feet. She was left painfully conscious. Gone was the numbness, the emptiness. Her memories flooded back, with a tide of emotion that brought her to her knees. She didn't feel the tears when they began, but saw them as they hit the blood soaked snow beneath her. _Remember who I am...?_ She sobbed, "I'm Addin. My mother named me Addin." And with the memory of her mother she pushed angrily to her feet, wiping away her tears with shaky hands. She threw her gaze to the sky, and may have cursed her fate, had she not been jarred back to immediate reality by the sound of footsteps in the snow...


	2. Happenstance

**Chapter 2 – Happenstance**

**Kagome's POV**

It had been a very long day already. Despite the threatening storm they had set out, lured by the promise of a jewel shard and led by bona fide jewel shard detector – Kagome herself. Up the mountain they had gone, and as the dense clouds gathered above they climbed higher and higher. The difficulty hadn't been in climbing the mountain, nor in obtaining the jewel shard from the scrawny looking bear demon that had claimed it. The difficulty had come when the snow began to fall.

Seeing what little time they had left before this turned into a serious problem, the group split in two. Kirara flew ahead with Sango and Miroku, while Kagome and Inuyasha roughed it out through the snowdrifts below. Admittedly, they were making pretty good time, and Inuyasha _had_ given her his shirt to wear when he saw that she was cold. She smiled and allowed herself to savor the moment. Deep snowdrifts had required her to climb on his back as they hurried down the mountain, and even though she had to put her head on his shoulder to avoid the sting of the snowflakes as they rushed through the air, well... that wasn't really so bad, was it?

And then suddenly they had stopped. Inuyasha set her down gently in the snow. He was sniffing the air, looking none too happy about it.

"Inu-" She began, but was cut off by the quick hand clamped over her mouth.

"Quiet, there's someone up ahead." he spoke in a whisper, and his golden eyes met hers, "Someone... different. There's a lot of blood, and... it just doesn't smell normal."

Kagome quickly became worried. She nodded her understanding. Inuyasha turned his attention forward again and held her by the hand as they ventured warily ahead. She made her way clumsily through the deep snow, wondering just what could be so unusual in the feudal era to unsettle Inuyasha this way. After all, they had certainly faced strange and stranger things, right? _Just what kind of monster are we looking for?_

First she saw the blood trail, dark and menacing, winding its way through the broken snow. And then they walked into the clearing and found their monster.

She was alone, dainty feet standing lightly atop the crimson snow as though she weighed no more than a ray of light. The remains of her clothing hung in ragged shreds abouth her. _She looks younger than me... _And when she turned her frightened, tear-streaked gaze to them, Kagome spurred immediately into action. Every tender instinct in her rose up at once and she ran, half-stumbling, to the unknown girls side. She barely registered the look of shock and alarm on Inuyasha's face as she spurred ahead of him.

And then the girl was in her arms and they knelt in the snow together, the girl from the future and the saddest creature she had ever seen. Somewhere she registered that Inuyasha had followed her, and had one hand protectively on her shoulder. "Are you alright?", she spoke softly, as though too loud a volume might shatter the fragile girl. She brushed a strand of brilliantly copper hair from the girls face, and was surprised to see a pair of wide and emotive storm colored eyes that locked with hers. She was given further shock when the girl finally replied.

"My name is Addin," she whispered, and then promptly laid her head on Kagome's shoulder and went to sleep.

"Kagome..." Inuyasha began pensively, not quite sure what to make of this moment. Finally he shook his head, knelt and plucked both girls from the snow, and continued for home.


	3. Oddity

**Chapter 3 – Oddity**

**Addin's POV**

Addin woke with the sunrise. She always did, it was part of being... what she was. _Remember what I am..._she thought foggily, fighting away the fresh memories of snow, blood, and pain. She became frightfully aware that she was in unfamiliar surroundings. She smelled... human smells - home cooking, herbs, the heady aroma of woodsmoke. There was also the muskier smell of demons. Sensing no immediate danger, she opened her eyes and slowly sat up. She was in a small hut, warm and comfortable on a futon. Someone had dressed her in fresh clothing - it was much too large, but it smelled nice. There were others asleep there as well... she recognized the girl who had ran to her.

Before she had had much time to observe anything, however, there came a rustle from the hut door and she jumped, surprised she had been taken unawares. In the doorway stood yet another familiar face, the demon she remembered from the clearing. She tried very hard not to be afraid of the intimidating figure, all snarl and fang and claw. After all, she could remember a swift journey through the swirling snow, held safe and secure...

He raised a hand, motioning for silence and she nodded, rising slowly to her feet. He held the door for her as she stepped carefully out into the breaking sunlight. She drew a deep breath of crisp, cold air and glanced about her. They were in a village, far down from the mountain. The glow of the morning sun was already melting the sparse inches of snow on the ground. She felt a shudder, thinking of how bleak and frozen everything would still be deep in the mountain, and how grateful she was to not be waking alone up there.

With that thought, she turned back to her rescuer. He was observing her closely, looking more than a little confused. She scuffed her foot nervously on the ground and cleared her throat. "Th-thank you," she began, "for getting me out of the storm." She could feel tears brimming in her eyes and she blinked them hastily away. "For bringing me here with you." Addin took another deep breath, and summoned her best smile. That provoked a response.

"Well, I suppose you have a place here now." The shocking kindness in his words belied his gruff voice, "That is, assuming you have no place else to go." He eyed her quizzically, and she dropped her own eyes to the ground under the power of that amber gaze. "Meh." he shrugged, "Well, we've taken everybody else in, one more isn't going to cause any trouble... Are you?" he asked, not unkindly.

She looked back up at him, and realized she didn't know what to say... _You must complete your purpose..._ Addin pushed those thoughts away and steeled her strength. "Nobody has ever, ever done so much for me before-" flashing half-remembered images of a sweet woman with a warm smile and a warmer embrace. She blinked them away. When she spoke again, it was with passion she didn't know she could still feel, "I would never, I promise, never cause any trouble for you." Yet even as she spoke it, she wondered if she was capable of making it true.

The demon cocked an eyebrow, and she saw something awfully close to a smile twitch across his face. "Yeah, I get it. Now tell me something," he looked very serious now, and leaned in close, uncomfortably close to her face, "Were your eyes a different color last night?"

The question took her so by surprise that she found a laugh, nay, a giggle, bubble its way out of her. It was the first laugh she had felt in longer than she dared to remember. Her wide baby blue eyes locked with his, this time with a spark of amusement that illuminated them in a completely new way. "My eyes change color with the sky," she smiled wryly. It was perhaps the least strange thing about her.

If he was shocked by her reply or her laughter, he didn't show it. Instead he shrugged again and turned to observe the horizon. A peaceful silence stretched between them as they watched the sun rise, and she was quite startled when he spoke again, "You're not quite human, are you? I've never come across anything like you before." He was still watching the horizon, but she found herself looking at her feet self-consciously anyways.

She spoke with a slight tremble, "I don't know what I am... but I remember my mother..." she looked up once again, her gaze unflinching this time, "She was human. I had a mother, once."

When he looked at her next, she found his gaze completely unreadable, but he just nodded. "Me too." With that, he turned and began to walk away, stopping only once to turn back and say, "I'm Inuyasha, by the way. The girl you met was Kagome. The others'll be up in an hour or so, depending on how lazy the humans feel this morning. We can save the story telling for then."

Addin watched him walk away, and felt a growing dread as the sun rose higher in the sky. She wondered what she would tell them, what she _could_ tell them. Speaking of the past would be like prodding her raw wounds with a red hot poker, but she owed her rescuers some answers. The only problem was, there was so much she did not know herself.


	4. Memories

**Chapter 4 – Memories**

The morning had been eventful. She met first the wise old priestess Kaede, who rose early and put Addin to good use, fetching water and helping with breakfast. Like Inuyasha, Kaede had not pressed her for much information. She seemed patient and kind, and, perhaps above all, simply grateful for an extra pair of hands. Addin liked her immediately.

The others rose shortly afterward, or more or less about the time the aroma of breakfast saturated the hut. Introductions were made, and she found herself becoming quite bashful under the focus of so much attention. She met Kirara, two tailed demon compainion to Sango, the demon slayer whose beauty and strength was quite intimidating at first. She soon learned quite a respect for her, especially after observing her interactions with one amorous monk – Miroku. He had seemed every inch the gentleman and greeted her with courtesy and flourish, all under the watchful eye of the demon slayer. She wondered at first at the peculiarities of their relationship, but quickly realized it was probably much more complicated than she could understand.

Then there was Shippou, who had approached perched on Kagome's shoulder, big eyes round with excitement. He was quite possibly the cutest creature she had ever set eyes on. The little fox demon and she became fast friends, each grateful to have another youth to interact with. Breakfast was one of the happier occasions Addin could remember, and she quickly came to realize just how strong the bonds of friendship were between this group of ragtag individuals. To the girl who had never really known one, it felt like a family.

And so when the meal was over and the room grew quiet, she nervously cleared her throat. "I don't think I can ever explain to you just how grateful I am that you found me." She eyed the room shyly and continued, "I... confess that I don't know much about myself... but I can tell you what I do know."

She drew a deep breath, "My first memories are of my mother. I don't remember much. She was very pretty, I... I don't look anything like her. I was six when she... died. My memories of that are foggy, too. I remember random things – that it was rainy that day, so we stayed inside." Tears welled in her eyes but she did not let them fall. "I remember fresh picked lavender on the table, and then I remember... I remember the man in the baboon pelt. After that it's all darkness, and-" she stopped suddenly. The atmosphere in the room had grown very somber indeed.

It was Inuyasha who spoke first, with a fervor setting his amber eyes aglow. "Did you say... baboon pelt?"

She nodded, "The one who killed my mother. The one who... took me." she looked at her lap.

Addin jumped as Inuyasha's clenched fist came crashing down to the table. "Damnit. Everything comes back to Naraku."

Kagome spoke up next. "He... took you?"

"The next thing I remember is waking up in a dark cell, with Kimryoko, my... guard. He asked me lots of questions at first. I didn't have any answers for him. After that..." She gave an involuntary shudder and continued, suddenly all too aware of the purple scars that criss-crossed her body. She remembered the bite of the whip that marked her disobedience, and the books and toys she could earn only with silence and compliance. "I was there for a very long time."

There was another short silence before Kaede spoke, "Addin, how old are ye?"

She bit her lip nervously, thinking about the question. "I don't... I didn't keep track of time very well in the beginning. I think I'm about twelve."

Kaede drew in a sharp breath and rose, seemingly far away in her own memories. "When I was a younger woman - Inuyasha, thirty or so years after ye were pinned to the tree, a young priestess came to this village. Her name was Megumi, and I had quite forgotten about her, until now. She wanted to know much of my sister, and of what had happened here the day Naraku tried to obtain the Shikon Jewel. Of course, I knew little in those days, and I believe now that she must have already known far more than anyone in this village. She left us and continued on her journey... I know not where it took her." The sage old woman turned her attention back to Addin, "She spoke of prophecy and fulfillment, evil and goodness. She said that she had been visited by a divine spirit. And here ye are now, strange girl filled with spirit. Your energy is unlike anything I've ever encountered before." She sat back down with a heavy sigh. "I have not thought of that in a very long time."

Addin sat in stunned silence, and imagined a priestess, many years ago, preparing for a battle against evil. _Megumi?_ And then she thought of the man in the baboon pelt, and she thought of the monster called Kimryoko, and six years spent in the lonely darkness. "I escaped." she said softly, looking at her hands, "I still don't understand it. There was a bright light... I didn't feel like myself, I think I wounded Kimryoko. He tried to stop me, I think he stabbed me, but I just touched him and... he screamed. Then the light took me, and I was no longer in my cell, but in the snow. I thought that I was going to die, but the light returned and healed me." She chose not to mention the voice.

Sango spoke first, "This is quite the story..." she paused, lost in her own memories, "but aren't our own stories just as unbelievable?" Addin could have kissed her, right then.

Kagome nodded, "When Naraku is involved, everything becomes twisted and complicated."

Miroku ran a hand through his hair, "We still know practically nothing. I have more questions now than when you were just an unknown girl dragged in from the snow." Then he shot her a reassuring smile. "But Kagome and Sango are right. It seems we have a common enemy, yet again."

Addin felt her heart swell with relief, and then a tiny hand touched her own. She looked down to meet Shippou's solemn eyes. "I believe you, too." he said.

Inuyasha spoke then, anger thick in his voice. "Hmph, the way I see it, nothing's really changed. We're after Naraku, and we _will_ get the bastard." He turned to Addin, and his voice gentled somewhat, "Are you with us?"

She looked around the table. Though she had just met them, they had all shown her more kindness than she would have ever thought possible. They had taken her in, believed in her, and now... _I must complete my purpose..._ She met Inuyasha's gaze and gave him her reply, "Whatever I am, whatever I can do, I will give anything to avenge my mother." She drew a shaky breath and gathered her thoughts, "Will you... tell me about Naraku?"

And so she heard their stories in turn, and began to know the powerful ties that held this group together.

**The next chapter will be a rather darker one from Naraku's POV! Yay! It will answer a lot more questions. :)**


End file.
